The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-03-03

nights artcr POw'tan boat day, would ;,
made decent folks hyar stan on end
sub. For all this N that, you couldn't
help Ilin' the teller, to save your life
lie hadn' an inimy in the world 'tbout
twas hisself. IS for Miss Fanny Cyar
ter, she fyarly worshipped him, I've
hecrd tell. Ennyhow, she wouldn' mar.
ry him, but nuthcr would she give him
up for nigh pon ten years. Said she
wouldn' take drunKard nor gam'lcr,
but she'd never take hur word back, nol
marry nobody else.
Ya-as, sur! said ten year-'n' he
didn't git no younger nor richer n all
time you may be sure. He turned gray
powerful fas, but he los money faster.
flo were very dark complcctcd; had
French blood il him-qualty blood O
the bcs' sort, [ been hear tcll-an' had
jit black hyar. One curious thing was
that one Of his eyebrows got gray n
'tothcr didn'. He use to say IS how all
his brains had settled N ono side O 5
haid. 1t give him kind o outlandisll
look, Though.
"'Wcll, things got wuss'n' wuss, till
it came to scllin' Off S race hosscs. then
nigGcr or two. That cut him NJ
nightly. His nig"crS was powerful
FOND o him. Tie never laid q lick on
one on EN- when he WIS sober n cf nc
techcd whip to 'cm when hc had q
good haid O liquor in, he'd pitch 'cIn
money by the hnn'ful mex day, "fur to
mint the sores" he'd say.
:. one cvenln' he come home by his
self. Twas Of Monday-DccGmhr
cont.day, L rcilcct, n he'd been 'way
morc'n a fortnit. Part o. the time 4 Az
| Cyarter's i'll Gooshlan'. They did saws
how Miss Fanny 'scardcd him t,'rn
good n all, bcin' nyar wore out, poor
girl! an no wonder, with s dis'patcd
ways. Ennyhow, he'd stopped Sat'lny
night t POw'tan coat-housc, n sot M
al night ~ all Sunday n most all a.
Sunday night playin' cyarls up stairs in
the tavern with somc> Richmon' cam.
blcra, N when he lef' the coat -liousr
they got his money, every cent Of it, m
his plantation, n higgcls, ~ his watch
n $ horses. He had to foot it al the
nine miles home.
"'Wcll, sub! Royal, his body servant,
ne see Inn a-scttin n the big cheer as
had b'longed to his mother, by the par
lor fire, mighty down-liko resin his
hald on his hans, II Royal he took n
totched him a hot drink, KNOWN his
ways, you see, sub, - had nice supper
cook fur him, but he wouldn't tech draD
nor mou1lul, an when it came dark-n
bad rainy night twas, too-hc wandered
oil on the plantation. Thar warnt a
nilGgcr quarter he didn' go intcr that ar
night, an hcd the same story every
whar.
'"Im a-startin' on n long journey"
SCI ne, "an' | want fur to take your
good will with me-" acH he. "I amt
been II good marstcr to YOU. an ] can,t
so 'thout you forgive lac, scz he.
Every one on 'cm was fit TO break
! thar hearts a-cryin', when he talked so
mounful, an they all tolc him how much
store they sot by him an all that, but
he couldn' seem to take 10 comfort in
what they said. Nigh pom midnight
twas, when thar como knockiu' at our
outside do, an my father, he got up
thnkln' somcthin' was the marlter with
the stock or somctlin' n Other. An
thar stood Mr.. Moscley, wet 5 4
drowndcd rat an Whites a sheet. III
got ~, too, an WAS Il listcnin' behind
the DO, an | hcerd him going over the
same SORT y fyarwCll to my father.
An then my father, scz he, "Nlr.
Alosclcy, scz he Gather bcin' IL Meth
odls class leader 'Xortcr), "AIr Nose
Icy, SCI he, right straight out o. the
hymn book:
While the lamp hol's out to burn,
The Vllcst sinner mought return, "
soz he. Grub out n b'gin ag'in, sub, h,"j
scz he, "'s never too Itc to men. ~
All! many's the time I've Thought O.
them ar words scncc, and how solemn
my father said 'em, he bcin' 'xortcrs
said. "Ncver too late to men, Mr..
AloSclcy,' SCI he.
can, scz he, laughin' kinder
cur 'ous-lkc, "thcr's nothin' tall left to
men, MIR. Bass nn' wuSSn nothin' fur
to men it with. [ don't knows the
devil IL think me worth pickin' up. But
good-by! good-byw an he was of III
the rain an win. ""Twas ics' mrtrr
sun-up mex mornin', but still a-rainin'
cats II dogs, you mought say, when here
come loyal a-racm an n-bcllcrin' down
to our house fur to tell us he'd foun' his
master stone dead IN cole on the DarlOr
floor under his mothers pictur, u-lyin'
face down, with his throat cut from year
to year. Amt the stain O the blood
thar STILL, sun? 'Iusc' to be, do what
they would to git it out. They say
blood stain won't never scrub clean. ;"
John Speed glanced furtivcly over his
shoulder, wet his dry lips with tongue
that was stiff and cold and stcadicd on
the leaf Of his desk the hand that clutch
ed the letter. a horrible sense of I'M
reality possessed him. Now that cX-
PLANTATION had come, there was no full
crum on which to rest crcdulity. Then
the floating haze Of letters subsidized into
lines, the lines from curves into levels.
lilo went on:
"Whcn | got back home ] made
clean breast of tho matter to my father.
Mother was luckily away from home.
really think the good man doubted my
sanity and your ycracity for at least ten
minutes WO went together to the
drawing, room, locked ourselves in,
moved III" piano and pulled up the cor
nGr Of the carpet. The stain is there
bl8, brownish sp!&::h, running of in
large and smaller streams WITH the grain
OF the boards-an ugly, ugly sight
".Wo-you, my excellent father and
don't believe in ghosts, Jack, nor yet
in haunted houses, nor in incyplicabIc
sights and sounds, even whcl We sec
and hear them ourselves. But what are